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Thursday, June 1, 2017

Sunduvan Sabah to hold event in remembrance of Double-Six Tragedy

KOTA KINABALU - SUNDUVAN SABAH, a local NGO which is actively organizing awareness programs will once again be holding a ceremony to commemorate the Sabah leaders who died in the Nomad plane crash in the shallow waters of Kg Sembulan on the evening of June 6, 1976, 41 years ago.

Its chairman Aloysius Danim Siap said in a statement that Sunduvan has organized this program four years in a row. Last year, over 300 people attended the tribute even though it took place at the start of Ramadan, the fasting month of the Muslim community.

"This time the situation’s the same, to be held a week after Ramadan. We appreciate and respect our friends who are Muslim and I was touched by their strong support as well as others for this year."
Aloysius was one of the activists called by the police last year to have their statements recorded in connection with double-six ceremony together with five other activists and political leaders such as STAR President YB Datuk Dr Jeffery Kitingan, SAPP President Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee, SAPP Deputy Presidents Mdm. Melanie Chia and Edward Dagul, SAPP Youth Chief Jamain Sarudin and Solidariti Belia Sabah (Sabah Youth Solidarity) Chairman Stephan Gaiman.

According to Aloysius, Sunduvan gets the cooperation and support from United Sabah Alliance (USA) or Gabungan Sabah, and a number of NGOs namely Mosik, SSU(UK), Sorak Sabah, BANSA and several more.

However, he felt a little sad because the Government did not make June 6 as a public holiday to allow more people to take the opportunity to attend the Double Six memorial services. He hoped the Government would gazette June 6 as a public holiday in view of its importance and relevance to the history of Sabah after the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

Meanwhile, the people of Sabah are still waiting for the report and the actual cause of the accident of Australia made aircraft GAF Nomad which claimed the lives of our 5th Chief Minister of Sabah Tun Fuad Stephens, Finance Minister Datuk Salleh Sulong, Minister of Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Peter Mojuntin, the Minister Chong Thien Vun, Assistant minister to the Chief minister Darius Binion, the Finance Ministry permanent secretary Datuk Wahid Peter Andu and five (5) others.

"The investigations that have been carried out by the Investigation Team based in Melbourne completed on Oct 28, 1976 but details of the investigation have not been disclosed to the public and we are hindered by the Commonwealth Act Section 33 (1) (a) of accessing reports stored in the National Archives of Australia,” he said.

Double Six incident is so important and is synonymous with the Petroleum Agreement with Petronas, signed on 14 June, 8 days after. The Petroleum agreement resulted in Sabah only receiving a meagre 5% of oil revenue. An oil-rich Sabah was then left behind in terms of development, while the bulk goes to Malaya.

Aloysius said there were doubts and questions in the minds of the majority of the people of Sabah when Tun Fuad was said refusing to sign the agreement in Labuan a day before. If this is true, then it certainly will create a different and negative perception. Speculations cannot be avoided because the report was not exposed till this day.

"To avoid the negative perception of conspiracy, the government should act immediately to request the documents findings from the Government of Australia where Malaysia is said to have good diplomatic relations and expose it to the public."

Aloysius then urge all members Sunduvan, Gabungan Sabah members and supporters, members of NGOs and the public to participate in the ceremony which will commence at 9:30 am on 6th June at the Double-Six Memorial Park, Sembulan. Everyone is to wear black T-shirt. Among the leaders who will also present are Gabungan Sabah (United Sabah Alliance) Chairman Datuk Haji Mohd Noor Mansor, STAR (Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku) President Datuk Dr Jeffery Kitingan, SAPP (Sabah Progressive Party) President Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee, Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah (Harapan Rakyat) President YB Datuk Seri Panglima Hj Lajim Hj Ukin, PPRS (Parti Perpaduan Rakyat Sabah) President Datu Mohd Arshad Abdul Mualap and members of their respective parties and NGOs.